The two-week gathering, which wrapped up Thursday, drew about 5,200 stampers and sales associates to the Salt Palace and Convention Center, 2,800 fewer than last year.

"We were surprised more [distributors] didn't come," said Stampin' Up! spokeswoman Dana Robinson. "And when we conducted an informal telephone poll asking why, the cost of air travel was one of the main reasons."

Another factor: Familiarity. Stampin' Up! founder and CEO Shelli Gardner has made a point of staging the annual event in Salt Lake City, but some demonstrators might be discouraged from coming to the same city year after year. Next year when the convention heads to Denver, but only because the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau has booked a competing convention for July 2007.

Gardner is partial to Salt Lake City because out-of-town conventions are hard on staffers who must leave their families for two weeks, Robinson said. Plus, it gives demonstrators a chance to tour the Riverton headquarters. Gardner, who grew up in Kanab, also prefers to boost her home state's economy. According to Robinson, the decorative stamp convention generates $3.3 million in lodging, meals and other tourism-related revenues.